Talks continue on Safe Air job cuts

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Consultations on job cuts at Marlborough-based aircraft engineering and maintenance company Safe Air are continuing, the company and union say.

Safe Air, owned by Air New Zealand and based at Woodbourne air force base at Marlborough Airport, announced in June that some Safe Air management, support and production staff would be made redundant after a consultation process expected to take about two months. Safe Air employs about 260 people.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union said the losses were expected to be 84 jobs.

Safe Air chief executive Heather Deacon said on Friday that the company was still in consultation.

"It's quite a long process. It's a big change and we are taking our time to give ample time for people's feedback and contributions."

She said some people had expressed interest in retiring, but no-one had left the company yet. She did not anticipate any redundancies would happen until October.

A formal announcement about the number of job losses was likely to be at the end of next month.

There was a lot of uncertainty for staff during this long time, she said.

Union Nelson-Marlborough organiser George Hollinsworth said the union was still in consultation with Safe Air and it would not be appropriate to comment at this time.